By Vincent Gunde
Political activist Bon Kalindo has crowned President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika a true statesman of Malawi for rejecting Constituency Development (CDF) Amendment Bill seeking Members of Parliament (MPs) powers to monitor the funding basket in their respective constituencies.
Kalindo said the matter on CDF was already brought before the High Court of Malawi which ruled that MPs should not be part and parcel of the CDF but greed in the MP’s themselves that they are the law makers wanted to overturn the High court decision.
He said now that President Professor Mutharika has rejected the signing of the CDF Bill into law, parliamentarians must take themselves back to the drawing board to revise their strategies of winning trust from their people.
Speaking through an audio clip, Kalindo has thanked President Professor Mutharika for listening to the voices of reason who have been calling him not to sign the CDF Amendment Bill to become a law observing that the fund only benefiting the pockets of the parliamentarians.
Kalindo said all the eyes of the MPs was only K5 billion claiming that when it comes to bills of money in Parliament, MPs both from government and opposition put their differences aside to make sure that the Bill passed to their benefit.
He said most of the Members of Parliament (MPs) are not in the August House for servant leadership but a quick way of enriching themselves saying this is being demonstrated with bills of their allowances increase, all join hands not to deliberate it but passing it straight away.
The activist said in other countries, to be a Member of Parliament, one has to accept to be paid low salaries or no salaries but in Malawi, all the eyes of Parliamentarians are bent on huge salaries and allowances.
“If there can be a law for MPs to be receiving low salaries or no salaries just to be servant leaders, capable and well- deserved people could be serving their constituents better than before,” said Kalindo.
He said now that councilors will be the in charges of the 5 Billion Kwacha Constituency Development Fund (CDF), the big question will be, are they capable of administering the basket fund while their salaries and allowances are very small?
Kalindo has appealed to government that before councilors start implementing CDF projects in their respective Wards, their salaries and allowances must be revised, expressing fears that if the situation remains as it is today with the councilors, money for the projects will be abused.
He has finally advised councilors to prove to President Professor Mutharika and the country as a whole that they can implement tangible projects in their Wards with the money from CDF and that their people will judge them basing on the way they have managed the basket fun
